2 Companies Fight For Chance To Build Hotel In Hollywood

January 19, 1997|By DAVID FLESHLER Staff Writer

HOLLYWOOD - — Starting with a small sandwich shop, Gus Boulis built a South Florida empire of luxury hotels, fast-food restaurants and casino boats. Along the way, he filled in some wetlands in Key Largo, destroying a natural shoreline and drawing a stiff fine.

Boulis is one of two developers submitting proposals to build a high-rise hotel-retail complex at the Casino property on Hollywood beach.

His rival, a team led by Redevco of Fort Lauderdale, offers its own strengths and weaknesses. Redevco, a successful shopping center developer, brings no hotel experience to the project.

No matter which company is chosen, simply having two firms fighting for the chance to develop the site represents a triumph of sorts for Hollywood. Two years ago, when the city advertised for proposals, no one responded.

The two companies' proposals have a lot in common. Both hotels would rise 150 feet above the beach and would offer several floors of specialty shops and restaurants.

Redevco's hotel would cost $43.6 million and have 11 stories. Boulis' would cost $35 million and have 14 stories. Redevco would tear down the city parking garage and build a new one; Boulis would keep the current garage. Redevco would keep the bandshell at Johnson Street; Boulis would replace it.

Redevco offers the most specifics about a possible deal with the city. The company proposes to pay the city $500,000 a year in rent and requests several financial incentives. It claims the project would generate 200 permanent jobs and an additional $206,000 to $275,000 in property taxes, depending on whether it receives a city tax break.

Boulis' plan offers no specific rent proposal. It simply states that the company is prepared to negotiate rent and incentives. It would generate about $118,000 in additional city property taxes. The Boulis proposal appears to offer many more jobs - 638 - but that number includes both hotel and retail employment, and it is unclear whether Redevco did the same.

Such numbers will remain ballpark figures until details are negotiated and finalized, said George Keller, the city's director of development.

City commissioners, who will be choosing a developer next month, say they are happy with both concepts.

"I love both the proposals in terms of the scope of them, the design," Commissioner Richard Blattner said. "I think the basic question is which one of these is most fully funded. I think it's important that the winners have a lot of their own money in it. You're more likely to work harder."

Redevco, a shopping center specialist, is attempting to branch into the hotel business. The company built Flagler Park Plaza, a 50-tenant strip mall in west Dade, and Tower Shops, a 90-acre center on University Drive in Davie.

"Retail is what we're strongest in," said Allan Kolsky, the company's president.

To show that it could pay for the project, Redevco provided a letter from a Grenada company called Universal Holdings Ltd., offering to invest $10 million to $15 million. That raised questions for Commissioner Eleanor Sobel.

"I'm really concerned when you can't get money on the mainland," she said.

According to the Grenada registrar of corporations, Universal Holdings has two shareholders: William Dunn, owner of Grenada Yacht Services, and Alexander Perumal, of California. Perumal is the company's chief executive officer and majority shareholder.

Kolsky said he had confidence in Perumal and his company.

"I have not met him personally, but I have met his representatives, and they do deal with very reputable people," he said.

Several banks also are interested in financing the project, said Debra Sinkle, the company's executive vice president.

Boulis is relying on a more straightforward way of raising money. He proposes to cash in $8 million worth of the equity in the Marriott Key Largo Bay. He also submitted letters from several banks interested in financing the hotel.